With the Ancient One's descent, came our ascent...
In the second eon, duped as the great uprising eon, which was estimated to be 50,000-60,000 years in span, the dragons were the first to be.
The first dragon, Kalim, was a green dragon attuned to nature and curious about his existence. In a quest to find out the 'why and what' of his life, he met many beings of his own. Red, blue, and gold. Just like they were of different colours, they also had distinct personalities.
The reds were ambitious and aggressive, while the blues were the polar opposite, as they were apathetic and mild. The green dragon made such friends and foes on his journey.
One fateful day, as he was flying over the towering mountains of the far west, he spotted a glimmer in one of the mountains' mouths. There he saw a scale that was like his, but this one was more vibrant and looked full of vigor. Writing on it was 'The second month; Transition.'
Kalim was confused as to how he was able to understand what was written on the scale, but he could. He took it and ventured to find more of it.
Since this was the second, surely there will be the first, and maybe a third or four!
But in all of his years, he only found four such scales. One was irrelevant to the first scale, however the remaining 3 had the same message, while slightly different.
The first month: 'the glittering crystals.' He found this one buried underneath a vast field of snow. The seventh month: 'the ruler.' This one was in the land of fire. 'The fifth month; Memoir,' was on top of a stone that had the following words: "Here lies the spirit of Undine." Kalim, who had now broadened his horizons and met many creatures in his wandering, assumed that this was the burial site of a water spirit.
…
The clock was now striking 4 p.m. Coy, who had just finished reading half of 'The Beginning', was on his way to flip to another page when he was stopped by Chóros.
{Have you already forgotten that you have an appointment with your king tonight?}
'Ah yes. A pity, I wish to have at least finished it up to the sixth eon, but time is running out. I better head back and prepare myself.'
Coy stood up and left the library, passing by the bowing Frank.
{You lost interest in knowing what I am?}
He replied as he was heading to his chambers, {No, I'm actually even more interested now. But today is not a day to be immersed in knowledge. I have more days ahead for that.}
{Suit yourself…} grunted Chóros.
{That is what I'm intending to do, no need to tell me.} assured Coy with a smile.
***
On the west side, the master room, Athan was standing in front of a mirror as his wife was buttoning his black shirt.
Melania hummed merrily. "Did the headmaster of the union academy accept the invitation to attend tonight?" she asked while taking a white suit from a chair beside her.
"Yeah, she said she would be here with her disciple." Athan gave his right arm to Melania so that she could slide into the suit.
"Haha, she has a disciple now? I thought that was not her cup of tea—passing down a legacy." Melania chuckled, surprised.
"Perhaps age got into her," said Athan.
Melania reached out for an insignia that had two crescent moons intersecting it beside her.
"W-when do you want Coy to leave for the academy?" Her voice quivered, and her hand hesitated before she put the insignia on Athan's left chest, atop his pocket that had a red handkerchief in it.
Athan gazed softly at Melania with his red eyes. "Honey, he won't be gone for that long; a couple of years is nothing compared to our life span. As for his departure time, I was thinking of letting him go along with Caesy tomorrow morning."
He leaned forward when he said that and kissed her forehead for helping him with the suit.
He continued, "Additionally, he can visit us once a year, or you can just sneak into the academy yourself to meet him."
Melania was wearing a light yellow dress that was shaped like a trumpet flower. With her hair freely flowing, she whispered cheekily, "But what if I get caught?"
"Shush… That will never happen," said Athan as he flicked her forehead, making her pout.
***
Luna hummed with excitement as she was getting dressed with the help of her maid, Mia.
Mia was a beautiful brown woman with short black hair.
"Hahaha, did the young master really say he was going to get Cherry for you?" asked Mia. Cherry was the cat Luna wanted.
"Yes! I'm so excited; I can't wait to hold her! If not for my status, I would have gotten her long ago, but the other noble scions would have thought of me as the future childish master of the house if I had done that."
"Don't be hard on yourself, young miss. We vampires don't care about trivial things like that. So, from now on, do whatever interests you. Of course, within the limit," Mia advised with care.
"You think so? I- i will keep it in mind."
Mia saw the hesitation in her and mentally shook her head, 'Young miss can be stubborn sometimes.'
"That's wonderful and all, but is that the only thing you are excited for? Did you forget about your brother?" Mia changed the topic as she gently brushed Luna's hair with great skill.
"No..."
A laughter was the recipient of her awful lie.
Luna was wearing a black sleeveless dress that had touches of white dots on it; the dress looked like the night sky.
Done with her work, Mia declared, "You are more than ready, young miss. Let me escort you to the entrance. Oh yes, before you go."
Mia took out a crystal hair pin from her dress and gently clipped it to Luna's raven hair. "Milady gave this to me a while ago; she said it will suit you beautifully if you use it instead of her."
"Hehe, it looks pretty. I will thank mother for it later," Luna expressed with delight as she checked how it looked on her in the mirror.
***
In the foyer, Coy was waiting for his family to come down.
Today he was actually the one waiting for them, a total surprise to Luna, Athan, and Melania who were walking down from one of the twin staircases.
"You are quick on your feet." Luna commented as she held the hems of her dress while closing on Coy.
Athan was supporting his wife's hand with his. "Indeed, Luna is speaking the truth."
"Maria was rather a bit galloping today, that's why I'm standing here earlier." Coy replied with a sigh.
{You dare fabricate a lie on the spot, I was the one who reminded you ahead of time!} Chóros grumbled in annoyance. Was he really going to be stuck with this vampire for many years to come?
{She also helped me, you know? Or are you so petty that you will hold me against this?}
With Melania locking her arms around him, Athan inched over to Coy who was wearing a black suit dress that had the same insignia as himself.
The gentleman nobles in Mundus generally wore their family insignia on their chests in formal events, and the ladies wore rings of it. When it was not formal, both of them wore their family insignia on their fingers.
Melania and Luna each wore the insignia ring on one of their fingers.
Athan reached out his hand, and a yellow speck flew from it and went inside Coy's chest. "Here's your little guy; don't overexert him next time. He is still young."
The yellow speck was Hesper. When Lily and Coy came back from the outing yesterday, he handed the fire spirit to his father to rejuvenate itself. Since his father also had many contracted fire spirits with him, he allowed Hesper to hang around with them so that he could get back in shape.
"Thanks father."
"Mother and Luna, you guys look beautiful," complimented Coy as he faced the ladies.
"Why does it feel like you will be bringing four wives to me after tonight's ceremony?" Melania asked all of a sudden. Coy looked at her with a shocked face. 'Is mother like this all the time?'
"I think that's a bit much for Coy to handle, mother." Luna said on the side.
Coy glanced at his father with a helpless expression, waiting for any sort of grace.
'Can we leave already?' was written all over his face.
Noticing his son's plea, Athan coughed. "Ahem, stop making fun of him. We should leave before the sun sets."
The family walked on the red carpet in the hall and got out of the castle's huge double door. What greeted them was unfiltered, fresh air carrying different types of scents.
In the month of the ruler, it was sunny and warm.
Coy surveyed their surroundings, wondering when the carriage would arrive, when Athan said to him, "We fly. Since you still haven't achieved your bat swarm yet and our destination is quite a bit far, we will be flying with magic."
Athan then started to chant incoherent words as a green and white circle that had unknown language written on its edges appeared beneath the family in a second.
{Hoh, tier 7 spell, sky? an enhanced one at that; it even has air filtering and airflow redirecting runes. Your father is among the few archmages I have seen to be that quick and efficient with their casting time.} Chóros praised.
Coy stared at the magic circle. It was unlike anything he had seen in his memories, as it was vastly different from the small ones normally used.
"Fly freely with your will," Athan said as he levitated from the ground. Luna and Melania followed after.
{Hah! Spell linking rune? It was quite obvious that he was going to use that, but how come I didn't even notice him putting it on the magic circle? My senses have become rusty during my stay on earth.}
Coy was half-heartedly listening to Chóros's rambling.
He tried to do as he was told, and lo and behold, it didn't take him that long to also levitate. He was flying without transforming into a swarm of bats or growing wings.
"I will be your guide, so just follow behind me and don't stray that far," said Athan.
Shortly after, they flew into the vast sky and were overlooking the Moon Castle, which, with human eyes, could only be seen as a white spot. But to vampires with their heightened senses, it was crystal clear.
Coy took in the sight of the world below him. A seed burrowed into his heart. He wanted to do this one day on his own.